‘FAQ’ and ‘Tools’ are useless Web links

No other factor causes greater customer frustration and dissatisfaction than confusing menus and links.

By Gerry McGovernMarch 24, 2011

SHARE

The cause of most confusing menus and links stems from organizational language and thinking. Take, for example, the FAQ. Over the years, I’ve found that most customers don’t know what a FAQ is. That certainly surprised me because I thought everyone knew that FAQ meant Frequently Asked Questions, just like everyone knows that the logo links to the homepage.

However, the FAQ has a deeper problem. From a customers’ perspective it is essentially a useless link. It is a classic example of organization-centric language.

I tried to renew my TV license recently and was offered two choices: General FAQs and Online Service FAQs. Which should I choose? On another website I was given two different choices: Frequently Asked Questions and Most Frequently Asked Questions.